Dear CU List, Rick Larson of Common Ground asked me to forward to the CU List, his reply as shown below. Btw, their Bethlehem Star link works now, if you're curious. Here's their homepage again, and Rick's reply, below: http://www.common-ground.org/ Rick's reply: >CG's approach is to sponsor and lead activities which are >nondenominational in character. A limited number of Christians respond to >calls for unity for the sake of unity; more respond when they see a task or >activity in which they can participate (and which then promotes unity as a >byproduct). > >Examples: > >We have taken many coach loads of of guys to Promise Keepers events. We >always strive to include as many different churches on the coaches as >possible, typically 12-15 churches. We subsidize these events, so that guys >of limited means can attend. > >We sponsored a men's conference at a local coliseum (Farrar, Rosberg). Men >from many different churches attended. > >We led the charge on distribution of 5 tons of Jesus videos to every >permanent residence in our area. 56 churches participated. > >Lately we've been working on the STAR project. it promotes unity, because >anyone who is interested in Jesus is interested in the STAR. Catholic, >protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Morman, Jehovah's Witnesses, even Moslems are >interested in the STAR. A wide variety of churches (and the unchurched) >have >attended these presentations in the States and Europe. > >Most of us are mainline evangelical, as is our statement of faith. Some >people worry about our inclusiveness, but my attitude is "Bring on the >goats! We'll make sheep!" > >In short, we don't really try to get people to rally around our mission >statement. We bring the churches together for events/projects. This gives >unity a chance to develop (super)naturally. All of these projects have been >"successful." Probably the Jesus video brought the most people together, >because it was a *huge* undertaking. We had to raise over $160,000 so that >churches without means could participate without cost. Check out the press >releases on the website for a flavor of this event. > >I would love to host a huge all-church barbecue at a large park this >Summer, >but my plate may be too full... > >We talk up unity, of course, but we've concentrated on actual events of >unity more than promoting a concept. > >We are rigorously nondenominational and are not church-affiliated. Like PK, >we have no membership structure, but thousands have participated in our >events. Some have expressed an interest in "joining" something, but we've >not gone that direction. I would be concerned about creating yet another >division in the body. > >Unity is obviously something that the Spirit is impressing upon the body >right now. I would encourage folks on your list to talk about and advocate >unity. But I would encourage them much more to *do* unity, prayerfully. > >Rick > >---------- ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com